2016 Old VineShiraz

Bottle Price $50Members Price $42.50

From dry grown 1968 plantings off the Somerset Vineyard. Elegant, restrained and showing all the hallmarks of a classic Hunter vintage, spicy yet subtle in tannins with luscious red fruits. We just love it!

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From dry grown 1968 plantings off the Somerset Vineyard. Elegant, restrained and showing all the hallmarks of a classic Hunter vintage, spicy yet subtle in tannins with luscious red fruits. We just love it!

Vintage 16’ has surprised many of us and turned out some luscious, perfumed reds, that have stood firmly in weight, colour and flavour, whilst the whites are elegant with good natural acidity and flavour. After a much drier than normal spring in 2015, we saw significant rain events through November, December and January. We picked our first parcel of white on the 19th January, with all the reds in by the 23rd February, so a very fast and furious vintage.

This is a new vineyard in our portfolio, with fruit coming from the old Somerset Vineyard on Oakey Creek Road. The block is from dry grown 1968 plantings, which definitely makes it one one the stalwarts in the Valley. This vineyard sits on the opposite hill and side of the road to Ablington and yet the styles couldn’t be more different, which is so rewarding when we talk about sense of place and terroir in our wines. Hand picking for Somerset took place on 23rd February. We like to cold soak our Shiraz fruit for 3-4 days, which assists in colour and tannin extraction prior to fermentation. We run our ferments moderate between 15- 20 degrees, for 7 to 10 days, where we then send the wine to mature in French hogsheads and puncheons for approx 9 months, before filtration & bottling.

Twenty Sixteen has given us a wine so sumptuous, so elegant and fruit driven, bright cherry red in the glass. With each swirl the nose opens up to dried herbs, violets and cherry vanilla. The palate shows lovely red berries, with a juicy persistence of flavour, finishing with silky soft tannins. A wine that is drinking perfectly now, but will age gracefully.

We are drinking the Old Vine with crispy pork dumplings and chilly sauce..

An amazing wine drinking now, but definitely leave it in the cellar if you can for 7+ years.

As a group of 8 ‘lively ladies’, we were brought here as part of a tour. It was a great start to the day. Ed asked lots of questions to find out what we liked ( pretty much everything) and tailored the wines to our...More